Miskooseepi Student Excels at the MFNERC Annual Science Fair

This spring, Grade 8 Miskooseepi student Demarcus Boulanger placed gold in the MFNERC and MFNSS Science fair with his project, “This Walking Stick is Batty.” Demarcus designed and crafted a walking stick that detects obstacles for the visually impaired with sound, much like the echolocation senses of a bat. When approaching an obstacle, the stick alerts the user with audio cues. To elaborate on his project, Demarcus stated that his inspiration to create the walking stick is his grandmother, who is experiencing a gradual loss of sight. Demarcus believes fellow community members deserve to feel confident in their abilities, whether they are visually able or impaired.

Staff of Miskooseepi school supported Demarcus’ project, Culture and Language teacher Mike West noted his student asked for assistance in harvesting the materials from local forest. With assistance, Demarcus harvested tamarack to use as the base of his project and sourced other parts online. In an interview with the student, he also credited the school IT, Jarell Cook for assistance with the technology used for obstacle detection.

Principal Irene Rupp also spoke about his win and supported his journey, noting that he is a star student in many areas. He is on the Junior Chief and Council and is captain of the school basketball team. She said "We're so proud of him! He's going to be representing our school. He's only 13 and he's so accomplished. We had 11 projects and all of our students won a medal." Irene tried the cane herself and made it from one end of the school to the library without bumping into anything. Principal Irene encourages her students to pursue the sciences and STEM opportunities as they continue their education.

For his innovative project, Demarcus was sponsored by MFNERC to join the Canada-wide Science Fair. This year, the fair was held in Fredericton, New Brunswick, where another two MFNERC-sponsored students joined.